Recreation
Senior centers
Many senior centers across the state are associated with city parks and recreation departments. They provide facilities, activities, programs, and services as well as educational opportunities, cultural endeavors, and active and passive leisure activities for older Texans.
Traditionally, senior center recreational and leisure activities have focused on passive indoor activities such as bingo, dominoes, card games, board games, and arts and crafts. Today, seniors centers are beginning to incorporate a wider variety of both active and passive activities such as exercise classes (e.g., T'ai Chi, yoga), trips to outside venues (e.g., festivals, ballgames), oil painting classes, cook-offs, line dancing, foreign language classes, computer classes, senior dances, balloon volleyball, and musical entertainment.
Nationally less than 10% of older adults regularly participate in senior center activities.
To increase participation, some senior centers have also started to restructure their image with catchy names, such as "Senior Zone" in Wichita Falls . Senior centers are no longer for dependent "old people" doing unappealing activities. Instead they are places to socialize and participate in new, exciting activities. Other centers such as Runnels Aging Service help organize affordable bus tours to various places around the state.
Updated: November 2, 2007
